Wednesday, July 03, 2002

Looks like this article will appear in tomorrow's paper: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at least 78 children died in accidents linked to parked cars between the summers of 2000 and 2001. More than a third died from heat exposure, the leading cause. 11:52:26 PM

Just because I've been thinking about the San Juan Islands quite a bit lately, I thought I'd see if I could find any pictures. Did one better with a couple of live web-cams. Between the ages of 8 and 18, I spent at least one month of every summer on Orcas Island. But of the live cameras, only Roche Harbor is facing west. Pictures don't do it justice. You can’t smell the salt in the air, or the strong, scent of dried pine needles. You can’t hear the waves against rocky beaches, or feel the air getting cooler after the sunset. The islands are absolutely gorgeous. Few things in the world can compare to a sunset from the observation tower on Mt. Constitution (although these 360° views give a pretty good idea). 11:21:20 PM

If I lived in Denver, and ever needed to hire an attorney to manage some big corporate mess, these people would most certainly get my business. Link courtesy of boing boing. The firm is composed of lawyers from the two major strains of the legal profession, those who litigate and those who wouldn't be caught dead in a courtroom. Litigation lawyers are the type who will lie, cheat and steal to win a case and who can't complete a sentence without the words "I object" or "I demand another extension on that filing deadline." Many people believe that litigation lawyers are the reason all lawyers are held in such low esteem by the public. Powers Phillips, P.C. is pleased to report that only four of its lawyers, Trish Bangert, Tom McMahon, Tamara Vincelette, and JoAnne Zboyan are litigation lawyers, and only one of them is a man. Lawyers who won't be caught dead in a courtroom are often referred to in the vernacular as "loophole lawyers," underhanded wimps who use their command of legal gobbledygook to scam money from the unsuspecting, usually widows and orphans. Many people believe that such "loophole lawyers" are the reason all lawyers are held in such low esteem by the public. Powers Phillips, P.C. is pleased to report that only four of its lawyers, Myra Lansky, Kathy Powers, Mary Phillips, and Jay Powers, are such "loophole lawyers" and one of them, Jay Powers, hardly does anything at all anyway so he doesn't really count. 11:02:24 PM

No matter how stuffed you might get at the family barbecue, it's not likely you'll eat anywhere close to as much food as these guys. In addition to the 50 hot dogs [in 12 minutes], Kobayashi ate 17.7 pounds of cow brains in 15 minutes (though not on the same day -- I mean, be serious). Jed Donahue ate 152 jalapenos in 15 minutes. Bill Simmons (not Page 2's Bill "El Wingador" Simmons ... at least we hope not) ate 137 chicken wings in 30 minutes. Eric Booker ate 15 burritos in eight minutes and 38 hard-boiled eggs in 10 minutes. Crazy Legs Conti ate 168 oysters in 10 minutes. And Don Lerman ate seven quarter-pound sticks of butter in five minutes. 5:28:10 PM